Ferdinand was born in Steyning, son of Ferdinand, who was born, and died, in Steyning. (The Gates family can trace their roots in the area back to at least the 18th Century.)
His mother, Ellen Kate nee Davis, was from Surrey.
His Grandmother was Harriet Chasemore, who was born in Horsham, and for whom Ferdinand would have been named, as was his Uncle, Philip Chasemore Gates, a Fellow of Caius College, Cambridge, a Barrister at the Inner Temple, and a Queen's Counsel. He was also a Recorder of Brighton, and a High Court Judge.
In 1871, Ferdinand's family were living at Gatewick, Church Street, Steyning, next to the Vicarage. (Gatewick House is now a Grade II Listed Building, dating from the late 15th and early 16th Century. There may also have been, in or near Steyning, a Gatewick Manor, and de Gatewick was a fairly common surname in Steyning in the Middle Ages). Ferdinand Senior was a Farmer of 540 acres, employing 20 men and 4 boys. As well as son Ferdinand, they had daughter Harriet, then aged 6, and there were 2 Female Domestic Servants.
By 1881, still at Gatewick, Ferdinand was farming 225 acres, with 5 men and 1 boy. Harriet had a 5-year-old sister, Ellen. They had a Nurse (from London), a Parlourmaid and a Cook. Ferdinand Junior was in Montpelier Road, Brighton, a Scholar.
In 1891, at Gatewick Farmhouse, Ferdinand Senior was described as a Farmer, and both Harriett and Ferdinand Junior (now a Solicitor) were living at home. They had a Trained Nurse and 3 Domestic Servants. Farmer Ferdinand died in 1892, and Ellen in 1897.
Ferdinand Chasemore married Alice at Heene in December 1894. She was born in Worthing, daughter of Augustus Henry Collet, a General Practitioner, born in Worthing. Mother Emma Louise, was from Middlesex. Alice was the second of 8 children, all born in Worthing, and living in Montague Place in 1881. They had moved to Ashurst Lodge, in Liverpool Road, in 1891, and there were 3 more children!
Augustus' Offices were in Chapel Road. In the will of Adolphus Charles White, of Hampstead, who died in 1902 ... I bequeath to my friend Augustus H.Collet Of Worthing in the County Of Sussex Doctor Of Medicine all the volumes Of "Punch" now in the Chippendale Cabinet in the dining room of my said house. Adolphus was a Professor of Music.
Ferdinand and Alice were living at Nyetimber, in Shelley Road, when the 1901 census was taken. He was a Solicitor, with his Office at 47 Chapel Road until very recently, this was the site of Aqua Restaurant. They had a son, Chasemore Ferdinand, aged 5, and daughters Violet Evelyn and Dorothy, 4 and 2. They had 2 Nurses, a Housemaid and a Cook. Ferdinand was involved, as Steward, in the will of Mary Lee, in 1884, who had left the Manor of Nyetimber to Anne Sheppard, of Pulborough.
Violet died in 1905.
Still at Nyetimber, in 1911, were Ferdinand and Alice, with Chasemore and Dorothy, plus Alice's sister Winifred, a single lady of 20, Ellen Mary Bailey, sister, aged 35, of Steyning, a Cook and a Parlourmaid.
In a Directory for 1913, Ferdinand's Office was at 14 Liverpool Terrace now the premises of Green Wright Chalton, Annis, Solicitors. He was a Solicitor and Commissioner for Oaths and, from 1892, a Freemason at Thomas a Becket Lodge.
When Ferdinand died, Probate was given to Alice, and to Herbert Norman Collet, Gentleman. Herbert was Alice's younger brother.
When Alice died, in 1945, she was described as of Whitstable.
Chasemore Ferdinand, a Motor Coach Proprietor, of Haynes Road, Worthing, in 1939, was a Civil Engineer, when he died in Worthing in 1967. Sister Dorothy died in Canterbury in 1983.